The material of choice

the-material-of-choice
the-material-of-choice

Hexcel used the recent JEC Europe show to reveal the extent of its carbon fibre and aerospace prepreg use on the ground-breaking Airbus A350 XWB twin-engine airliner. Mike Richardson reports.

Hexcel used the recent JEC Europe event held in Paris in March to underline its collaborative relationship with Airbus, and particularly its supply of prepreg products for the A350 XWB’s primary aerostructures and wings. Exhibiting at JEC Europe to promote its latest innovations for aerospace and industrial markets, and in addition to launching a new carbon fibre and aerospace prepreg, Hexcel showcased some of the latest composite applications with products, which it claims offers customers ‘the strength within’. Kicking off his presentation at the first day of the show, Hexcel’s chairman, CEO & president Nick Stanage, began by championing the role that carbon fibre composite materials play in airframe manufacturing by reminding the assembled audience that among its many attributes, composites offer weight reductions that are 30% lighter than aluminium, possess an inherent strength five times in excess of aluminium as well as improved stiffness, toughness, damage tolerance, durability and corrosion resistance. Whilst they may sound like bold claims, technology will always be a key driver for future growth. Airbus certainly thought so when it saw an opportunity to move quickly and join the burgeoning composites movement by signing a long-term contract with Hexcel in May 2008 for the supply of all composite primary structures for its then nascent A350. Worth $5 million per aircraft, it represents Hexcel’s largest ever aircraft programme contract and in total is expected to generate revenues of $4-5 billion. “There is pretty much no mechanical requirement where composite materials cannot give the aerospace industry a technology advantage,” stated Stanage. “If you translate what our products offer into specific product types, we produce the PAN precursor which we then process into carbon fibre in various grades through high strength, intermediate modulus carbon fibre, weave it as woven products into our reinforcements and then prepreg it. We also have a business segment that focuses on lightweight honeycomb in raw form, which we then engineer, shape and form, and add value by manufacturing parts that offer the kinds of advantages our customers’ are looking for.” Stanage warmed to the task by adding that Hexcel has a wide array of product offerings it supplies around the world to serve its customers in the ‘pure play’ of composites. “For commercial aircraft, it’s always interesting to examine the landscape and the evolution of composites,” he continued. “New designs are more composite intensive and this embodies our secular penetration story. Look back to the 1970s and 1980s, and composites comprised anything from 5% to 15% of the aerospace industry’s product mix. Eventually, the A380 made a step change by increasing it to 23% and now we have the Boeing 787 and A350 which comprise over 50% of carbon fibre composite content by weight. Again it demonstrates a great success story for composites in terms of its weight, fuel consumption and durability advantages. “If we look at today’s commercial aircraft build rates, the backlog for Airbus and Boeing stands at over 10,000 aircraft, which in current build rate terms equates to over eight years of production. This provides a very robust backlog for many years to come.” Ending his presentation by summarising the industry outlook for Hexcel, Stanage believes that aircraft build rates are strong and increasing, that penetration of composites is ramping up and the new aircraft designs currently being evaluated will include even more composite content. “Our aim is to grow organically, to invest and win business in those new aircraft programmes being developed and to evaluate opportunities to strengthen our portfolio,” he concluded. “We are a technology-driven company focused on growth markets where we can identify and provide a sustainable competitive advantage.” Stanage then handed over proceedings to Thierry Merlot, Hexcel’s vice-president & general manager to provide an update of the A350 XWB programme. Step onboard the A350 XWB and its primary structures comprise Hexcel’s HexPly M21E prepreg products reinforced with Hexcel HexTow IMA carbon fibre. In terms of application examples, the A350’s entire fuselage panels, keel beam, the entire wing, including covers, spars and centre wingbox, and empennage are made using Hexcel’s composites products. In order to produce the vast quantities of prepreg needed for the A350 XWB, Hexcel introduced a model for the cost-effective large scale production of prepreg at its Duxford, UK facility and expanded its prepreg matrix capacities at its Salt Lake City, US facility. Once the resin film from Duxford is converted into UD prepreg at Hexcel’s plants in France, Spain, Germany and US, it is then supplied to nearby Airbus facilities and its tier one supply chain throughout Europe and the US. This cost-effective prepreg production supply chain model benefits both the customer and Hexcel, and results in shorter lead-times, reduced transportation of materials, point of use delivery, reduced inventory and less requirement for cold storage space. “All the A350’s fuselage frames and stringers - comprising 700 different frames/stringers per shipset - are manufactured by US-based ATK Aerospace Group and France’s Duqueine Group,” Merlot explained. “In terms of the aircraft’s fuselage sections 11-15 and 21, nose sections 11-12 are manufactured by Aerolia, the 16-18m long forward fuselage sections 13-14 are manufactured by Premium Aerotec and sections 15 and 21 are manufactured by Spirit, Airbus and EADS. All these fuselage sections are joined at the Final Assembly Line in Toulouse.” At 32m x 6m, the size of the lower wing cover represents the biggest single civil aircraft part ever made from carbon fibre for commercial aircraft. The lower wing cover is manufactured by Airbus in Spain, the upper wing is made by Airbus in Germany, the front spar is made by Spirit in the US and rear spar is made by GKN in the UK. “Hexcel doesn’t only work within the manufacture of primary structures,” concluded Merlot. “We supply our entire range of materials for the A350, which include engineered core, resins, fabrics, glass prepregs, as well as prepregs for lightning strike applications. Hexcel’s composite product content on the Airbus A350 XWB, represents a total value of $5 million per shipset which equates to the largest ever programme for Hexcel.” Hexcel is contracted to cover the entire family of A350 XWB aircraft through 2025. Beyond that, and the company will be wondering what the material of choice will be for the next generation of Airbus civil aircraft. www.hexcel.com

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